Sunday Smorgasbord - Sunburn Edition

-Note to self: get sunscreen to live in your car/purse so that when you take an impromptu visit to Sea World with the bf and his parents, your back does not fry while watching Clyde and Seymour and the dolphins. Then remember to apply said sunscreen. If you DO get a burn, keep shea butter lotion and noxema handy for the post burn relief and moisturization.

-Sent a gorgeous vase of tulips to my mom for Mother's Day. Only I didn't put two and two together that they were going to my cousin's dance recital and weren't home except for this morning. Luckily I talked to the florist and they'll deliver them to her tomorrow. I'm definitely a little disappointed.

-I conduct my movement of Swan Lake tomorrow with the orchestra...I'm a little nervous. I'm ready, but I'm nervous. I'll hopefully be one of the first ones up so that I don't have time to sit there and freak myself out.

-Tuesday is my conducting final. I'm so not ready for it with the two new excerpts I got assigned. I'm a little sad about this being the end of the semester, I've really enjoyed this class and learned a LOT from my professor.

-I finished Day 11 of the 30 Day Shred and am doing great. Just started Level Two today. I absolutely love it and am managing to be incredibly consistent. I started a new blog to track my progress. It's helping me stay on top of this, it definitely helped me not skip the workout the other day.

-Happy Mother's Day to all of the fabulous mothers out there. I think we definitely need more than just one day to celebrate how wonderful you are.

Sunday Smorgasbord

I unfortunately do not have any new information about Dave's condition. Thank you for all of your prayers, please keep them coming. I promise to update as soon as I know more. I'm hoping to get an update sometime tomorrow.

Two trips to Disney's California Adventure = awesome. First trip wasn't so fun, what with the bf being in a REALLY bad mood all day and being a jerk while we were there...but he's since apologized profusely and we're all better now. Today's trip was AWESOME. Just a relaxed day with the bf and our friend Trickster. He's an amazing rider and like a little brother to both of us. (updated the nicknames post with his and a few other new nicknames)

Went to the mother/daughter luncheon with the bf's mom yesterday, we had a great time. This was her last year organizing/running it. She actually worked out that the Knights would host it and would make it into a family event next year. They'll do the bbq, etc. The ladies will still run the silent auction and raffle, etc. I think it's a great idea. It will bring in a lot more people and subsequently a lot more money for the fundraiser. (a center for the support of pregnant women and mothers, wonderful organization) The bf's mom and I talked about having a girl's day sometime with lunch and a chick flick. That should be fun, she really is such a sweet lady.

Swine Flu has everyone in a tizzy for no real reason. I get the significance, I think the media just needs to chill and find something else to focus on. They're inducing an unnecessary panic. That being said, there was a chance of the campus I work at closing. In such a case, I would be considered "essential staff" and would still have to work. Lame. But our student who was ill was tested negative for swine flu, so I think we're pretty safe for the time being.

Beth's posts over at A Mom's Life inspired me to buy and start the 3o Day Shred. I'm doing really well so far. Even started a separate blog to track my progress. (yes, I realize I'm posting more consistently there than I am here at the moment...I'm working on it)

I suppose that's about it for the moment. I think I'm going to get some sleep now. I hope everyone has a wonderful week!

A Few Notes

Note to self: move finger BEFORE chopping. (I'm okay, promise. But let's say I've no doubt about the sharpness of my knives.)

...in other news...

I really shouldn't be blogging right now. I really should be washing dishes, prepping lunch for me and the bf for tomorrow (we've been taking weekly turns bringing lunches), and possibly finishing clearing off my kitchen table.

Another note to self: no more putting off balancing checking accounts...because eventually it's 4 months down the road of blowing it off and you get stuck with DAYS of playing catch up.

Partly because I get off work so darned late that I hardly have time to do anything when I get home. On the bright side, my boss just told me that I can go back to my original schedule of 7-3:30, which means I'll actually have time to do stuff after work before it's time to go to sleep. Except for Tuesdays and Thursdays when I have class. But still, off earlier 3 days a week is wonderful. Can't wait. Only I still have a ton to finish before I can go to bed tonight, and I've got to be up SO early tomorrow.

Only trouble with the new schedule is that I'll have to rearrange my morning walks. Did I mention I've been getting up early to walk? And the bf and I have been doing the strict phase 1 of South Beach. And I've lost about 6 pounds...and people have noticed. Multiple comments. Definitely makes it worth it.

And now I have inexplicable hiccups. The kind that are going to start hurting soon. The kind that I can never seem to get rid of. This should be fun...

Oh, ps, I'm behind in my Reader. Again. It's a thing. I'm working on it. Things are just so BUSY. I'll be around catching up. I know you've missed me :) ...Wow, do I need sleep or what? I'm not usually that cocky. Oh well, I've missed all of you.

Bells and Headaches

I'm not really in a blogging mood, haven't been all week, but I feel like I should write SOMETHING. So it'll be brief, and then I'll skip happily on my way. Or, perhaps, more likely, just crawl away and curl up. I haven't been feeling well, today it's just a general blah sort of feeling. Monday I actually left work early because my head hurt so bad I could hardly see straight. Ibuprofen and Excedrin weren't helping in the least. Still hurts off and on, but not nearly as bad as it did Monday. I just feel completely off, you know? Just one of those weeks.
I'm determined to go back on South Beach, and the exciting part is that the bf is all for doing it with me, which will definitely make it easier for me to stick with it. My mom goes to Curves at home, and I just did some research and there's one about 5 minutes away from my apartment. I've been getting ready so early, I may as well get over and spend half an hour exercising in the mornings before work. I know that lack of exercise is part of my problem. I'm going to call them during my break later today and find out their hours, because if they're open to start by 6:30, that would be perfect for me. I'd be done by 7 with time to come home, rinse off in the shower and eat breakfast before I have to be to work at 8. And the best part is that I'd start feeling better. Join that with South Beach and actually eating healthy? I think I could do that. And it's totally worth however much money they charge for membership. I know that if I'm spending my money on it, it's something that I'll actually do. I really just suck at
procrastinating, and my body and health are the things that suffer. I know I'm tired, and that the thought of all this makes me even more tired, but I also know that exercise and a good eating regiment is exactly what I need to get to feeling better again. If I can join this afternoon, I will definitely start tomorrow morning. Getting it done first thing in the morning will be a great thing too, it's so easy to put things off when it gets to after work and the end of the day. I'm actually starting to get excited about this. :)

Now I'm sure you're probably at least a little curious about these pictures with the post today. I may have mentioned before that I play flute on a couple pieces with a friend's bell choir. Well, the bell choir is making a cd, and so I was invited to the recording studio Saturday morning because they wanted to include the two pieces I play on in the cd. I got up bright and early
Saturday morning and made my way down to the studio. I only drove past the parking lot twice trying to find it! (okay, maybe it was three times...) It was a lot of fun though. I was there just about two hours, two takes of each piece, plus a couple spot recordings. They did a piece or two in between each flute piece. I love being in studios, this is only the second time though, it was very different from the one I was in with my children's choir so many years ago. I liked this one better, it was more old school, like something you'd see in a movie. It was a blast, I'm looking forward to getting the cd.
I hope you are all having a great week!

Ripple Effect

Green smoothies and raw living. These seem to be the "buzz" words in the blogosphere lately. It seems I can't go a day without coming across some trace of these things. A friend of mine attempted the Green Smoothie Challenge. It sounded pretty cool, but I hadn't really gotten into it. Too busy I guess. (which I realize is a lame excuse) The whole raw food thing is very interesting, but I don't know how well I could commit to something like that, though I think I may use bits and pieces of it. But I've been thinking more and more about the green smoothie thing, and it culminated in the results post of the challenge. I think it could be good, and I love smoothies. So, while I won't be participating in the actual challenge, I can have my own personal challenge. There are some recipes provided on the original challenge post, and of course, Google runs the world. So I think I'll give it a shot. I have been trying to live a healthier life. I've started playing tennis (which, incidentally, helped bring me and the bf closer together and probably had a role in our getting together when we did) I'm still struggling to get back those beautiful abs I had back when I didn't care enough to realize the crunches game I played was actually quite beneficial. I half-heartedly did the South Beach thing again when I moved into my new apartment, but with 3 weekends in a row home, I wasn't too strict. Granted, the good results of that are I really have cut back on the bad carbs. Haha, reading all this I realize I sound like a nut, but I'm really not. Sure, I've put on 10-15 lbs I could stand to lose, but I'm not unhappy with my weight, just higher than I'm used to. See, as always, I did things differently than the rest of the crowd-I got the freshman 15 AFTER I graduated. But with tennis a few times a week, and more long walks with B, I'm at least getting the whole regular exercise thing under control. Add in daily ab work along with my old trusty physical therapy leg exercises, daily stretching and some basic 5 lb hand weight arm exercises, I should be pretty good to go...so long as I keep on it. That's where I always lose it, in the long term part. But hopefully I'll be able to stick with it. Maybe shed those extra pounds I've managed to pick up, but mostly just be healthier. And honestly, I'm one of those people where as long as my abs are okay (which at the moment, they're only so-so), I really don't care what the scale says. I just figure I should get my health habits under control now...it'll be a lot less work to establish them now than if I wait until later. Right?
So this loooong roundabout to say, I think I'm going to institute this green smoothie thing into my daily diet. One a day (at least) Already have some recipes to try, maybe I'll get a few more from B, because she's been doing the green smoothie thing for a few weeks.

And as always, my picture with the post. I struggled choosing between a few photos, I tried to come up with something that made sense with the green smoothie topic. Unfortunately, my pictures of the produce from one of the Farmer's Market Sundays are no longer on my work computer, and I'm posting this now. So instead I settled for a beach picture from my cousin's visit. Not exactly edible, but natural all the same. I was fascinated by the rippling effects in the water as the tide fluctuated that afternoon, it was really neat to photograph. I am SO looking forward to summer. It's going to be a blast, I can't wait. :)

Picture specs:
~taken March 30, 2008
~setting: landscape, flash did not fire